12 theSun | MONDAY JANUARY 19 2009

Pavilion celebrates art,

culture and tradition
PAVILION Kuala
launched its Chinese New
Lumpur challenges this year and charge
forward together.
1,000 new officers for poverty
outreach programme
Year celebrations recently with She also announced the ac-
cultural performances which tivities to be held in the coming
thrilled shoppers and tourists. weeks up till Feb. 8, including
The event, themed “Blossom a concert by Hongkong singer
in Pink and Prosper in Red”, was Sally Yeh, fashion shows and
officiated by Pavilion CEO Joyce demonstrations of various Chi-
Yap to welcome the year of the nese arts and crafts. by Himanshu Bhatt and deprived families in the suburbs and million has also been allocated to repair
ox, and included a drum per- newsdesk@thesundaily.com in remote areas who are in need of aid,” about 15,000 houses belonging to the
formance he said. poor, at a cost of between RM5,000 and
by the 24 THE federal government is training “The Welfare Department is therefore RM10,000 each.
Seasons some 1,000 new officers to serve in its training 1,000 officers for this challenging The repair works will be done through
D a n c e poverty outreach programme, dubbed project to reach such areas,” he said, ex- Prokhas Sdn Bhd, a Finance Ministry
Troupe and Cari, to seek low-income families in plaining that the programme offers mon- subsidiary.
acrobatic need of aid in hinterlands and rural etary aid mainly on a monthly basis. Nor Mohamed also hoped that the Pen-
stunts by areas. The government has also decided to ang government and electrified double-
w o r l d Second Finance Minister Tan Sri increase the minimum income eligibility track project developer MMC-Gamuda
champion Nor Mohamed Yakcop said in Butter- for welfare aid from RM400 per month to Joint Venture Sdn Bhd would be able to
Kun Seng worth recently the programme was in RM720 in Peninsular Malaysia, RM830 in amicably settle problems regarding the
Keng Lion line with the government’s initiative Sarawak and RM960 in Sabah. project.
D a n c e to expand aid to the needy during the He explained that the different mini- The state recently issued a stop-work
Troupe. current global economic crisis. mum criteria is due to the differing cost order to the company after finding that it
Y a p The government has allocated of living in the three regions. owed the state RM 7.4 million, mostly for
said a bull RM500 million to widen its social Nor Mohamed, who is also Tasek fines and drainage contributions.
symbolises service net to include an estimated Gelugor MP, said this after handing over Nor Mohamed declined to comment
110,000 beneficiaries, twice the a contribution on behalf of the Welfare further, explaining that it was an internal
strength and
number now benefiting from gov- Department to low-income residents in state matter, but hoped the rail project
energy, which Kampung Permatang Tok Gelam.
ernment welfare aid. which passes through Seberang Perai
is necessary “There are many low-income Under the programme, about RM100 would be completed soon.
to face the

Yap (left)
unveiling the
‘Golden Ox’
with VIPs at
Most complexes
the Pavilion.
in Penang owe
assessment rates
IT is not only Wisma Umno in Kepala Batas,
Seberang Perai, that owes the local council
assessment rates; most complexes in the state
also did not fully pay up their assessment
rates, said Penang local government, traffic
management and environment committee
chairman Chow Kon Yeow.
“We believe they owe us unpaid assess-
ment rates but we will allow them to make
progressive payments to settle the amount
owing to the councils,” he said.
Chow was commenting on news reports
that the Kepala Batas Umno division building
owes the council up to RM100,000 in assess-
ment rates.
“Local councillors are checking on other
buildings so that they could give us a list of
Blackberry’s similar cases,” he added.
It was also reported that a whopping RM65
first flip million in assessment rates was owing to the
smartphone Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).
pg 18 Chow could not confirm the figure but said
the amount is large and MPSP is stepping up
efforts to collect the amount owed.
“However, we will allow ratepayers to pay
in instalments if they owe us a huge amount,”
he said.
RapidKL bus route change in KL Sentral
A NUMBER of bus routes operated
by Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi
Deras Sdn Bhd (RapidKL) from the KL
Sentral bus hub will be transferred
to Jalan Tun Sambanthan’s bus stop
from Feb 3.
The bus routes involved are those
at Jalan Tun Sambanthan – U60, U63,
U64, U65, U66, U67, U68, U69, U70,
U71, U72, U73, U74, U75, U80, U81,
U84, U85, U87, U88, E1, E2, E4; and
those operating from the KL Sentral
bus hub – U76, U82, U83, B101, B105,
B110, B112, DTS (Cyberjaya).
Passengers are advised to follow
the service road from KL Sentral
to Jalan Tun Sambanthan to get to
RapidKL’s buses as the pavement
Tetra Pak-MBPJ recycling campaign
TETRA Pak (M) Sdn Bhd and the
Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is
having a beverage carton recycling
campaign at the SS2 Cares Chinese
New Year Carnival.
It is being held daily from 8am-
12pm from now till Jan 24 and from
Feb 2 to 8 at Jalan SS2/62 to increase
awareness among residents on the
importance of recycling.
Residents are urged to bring at
least three used beverage cartons
for recycling to redeem prizes and
participate in games at the carnival.
between both these roads will be
closed.
RapidKL communication general
manager Ebi Azly Abdullah said the
bus routes involved have to move to
Jalan Tun Sambathan to facilitate the
development of Lot G by Malaysian
Resources Corp Berhad which is
expected to take up to four years.
Passengers are advised to read
the notices and follow the guides
posted to facilitate their travel.
For more information, log onto
www.rapidkl.com.my.
To provide suggestions and feed-
back, email suggest@rapidkl.com.
my or call 03-7625 6999 (Monday
– Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm).
Lucky draws will be on Jan 24 and
Feb 8 at 11am, in which three lucky
winners will win a shopping voucher
worth RM100 each at the end of
every draw.
The winner of Tetra Pak’s Count &
Win contest will also get 20 cartons
of beverage drinks. The contest ends
on Jan 22.
Other prizes include assorted car-
ton drinks, notebooks and ang pow
packets made of recycled beverage
cartons, non-woven bags, bamboo
pots and Mandarin oranges.